Bloodlust
by LoveStoryMermaid
Summary: "She going to hurt herself." Damon had told Jeremy when Elena was infected. A closer look into Elena breaking down had Enzo taken a little longer getting the antidote to West's virus. Tag to While You Were Sleeping 5x16


Bloodlust

Damon heard her before he saw her. Gasping like someone who couldn't breathe and stumbling around like a drunk, she wasn't hard to miss. "Elena!" he called.

"Elena," she heard someone called her name and she turned around wildly to find Katherine staring at her. "No," Elena begged, "No. You're dead. You're DEAD!"

Katherine laughed. "Am I? How would you know? I just don't seem like the type to die now, do I? But, I am the type to get bored. And we all know I don't do bored well. So, here I am. I never left you, Elena."

"No." Elena shook her head. "That's not true. That's. NOT TRUE!"

"Ok," Katherine shrugged. "Maybe it isn't…. Maybe it is. But that doesn't really matter, does it? You're still a monster either way. I mean, the only difference between you and me, dear Elena, is that I don't hide it. But, look around you."

Elena blinked hard and stumbled back to her knees. "No. Nononono!" Jeremy was lying dead at her feet, bite marks on his neck. Aaron was right next to him. Bonnie next to him. Everyone was dead. She turned around to find Jenna lying dead and desiccated. Not far from her was John. She turned again, trying to get a grip. Only they were still there and now there was the hunter she had killed, torn to bits.

"And you say I'm the monster?" Katherine needled. "Elena Gilbert, you're the biggest monster out there. At least I never got my friends killed."

Elena cried out and starting sobbing. Katherine was right. What had she had done? She was a monster. She was hurting her family. She couldn't keep doing that. It wasn't right. They deserved better. They deserved better than her and to be safe. They couldn't be safe with her around. This had to end. This had to end.

When Damon finally did see Elena, she looked quite literally out of her mind, hair in all directions, cuts in her sleeves and hunched over the bench like she was going to be sick. Then, she suddenly lunged out at the bench, breaking it into a million shards of wood. Damon anticipated the millisecond before she reached to stab herself with one of them.

"Oh, no you don't," Damon said, shoving her across the field away from the wood pile. "Elena," He called again, forcefully, but gently trying to get her attention.

Elena turned around again, staring at him wilder than he had seen in a very long time. "Get. Away. From. ME! I said GET OUT!"

"Elena, it's me, it's Damon. I need you to calm down." He took a cautious step toward her.

Elena took a deep breath. "Damon?"

Damon took a relieved breath of his own and put his hand on her shoulder. But, no sooner had he done so than he was suddenly on the ground with Elena going for his jugular, eyes bulging with crazed hunger. "ELENA!" He jumped out of the way an instant before she moved. Elena let out an enraged snarl at having missed.

Damon shrugged. "See, you're always off thinking you're stronger than me. I like that. Hell, it's probably true in some respects." Watching her carefully, he dodged her next move. Really, being out of your mind did nothing for helping you not be predictable.

"Cocky as always." Elena breathed and threw the stake he'd missed into Damon's shoulder, distracting him enough to knock him back to the ground, pinning him.

Damon let out a curse. Not only to West, but suddenly aware of his own hunger. But, he had promised Jeremy he wouldn't hurt her. And he'd meant it. West could do what he liked when it was just him, but he'd be damned if Damon let him be the reason Elena got hurt at his hands. Enzo had once taught him how to channel his emotions to get through the worst days in that cell. But, this time instead of hate, Damon focused on the hunger, channeling the craving instead for clarity and strength.

"See, while the good doc's virus may make you stronger, I have it, too, which means we're back to older vamp beats newbie every time. And this ain't my first rodeo, sweetheart." Damon used the fact the blood now oozing from his shoulder was distracting her as his chance. He simultaneously pulled the stake out of his shoulder and kicked his leg out to flip Elena over, slamming her head against the ground hard enough to knock her out.

It was enough for him to realized just how sick she was. Despite the bloodlust, the werewolf venom in the virus had only weakened her and for a moment, Damon was afraid she wouldn't wake up. She was drenched in sweat and paler than some dead bodies and breathing shallow even for being unconscious. She'd never stood a chance. He knew only too well werewolf venom made you crazy with thirst. West had hoped it would make her stronger, but it had only made her more bloodthirsty. And he hadn't considered the notion that werewolf venom would be fatal. Under other circumstances, Damon might have taken satisfaction in knowing West's experiments had finally managed to lose him his test subject.

Damon reached out for the still unconscious Elena, brushing the sweat drenched strands of hair out of her face. But he had to step back. His own bloodlust was only barely contained, not helped by his own blood that had stained his shirt. Irritated, he put a hand to his shoulder to try and stop the bleeding. He would not hurt Elena. Damon tried to hold onto the twisted relief he got from managing to at least keep Elena safe from herself. Now, he tried to use that to keep his promise that she'd be safe from him. Yet, he still couldn't be that close to her right this moment. He couldn't help her.

"Well, looks like my timing couldn't be better." Enzo's voice rang out from across the field. He held two vials in his hand. More powerful than the desire to try and rip his friend's throat out again was an overwhelming rush of relief he didn't feel he deserved. But, the relief wasn't for him. It was relief that Elena would make it out of this after all.


End file.
